Dimensions Collide
by Pixel-Kitten
Summary: The fight on New Vestroia is far from done: The Bakugan are seen as dumb beasts, to be battled and killed for mass entertainment. There's plenty more where they came from, after all. In the midst of this mess, some dimension-crossing shenanigans drop the Battle Brawlers into even hotter water!
1. Chapter 1

"Gate card open! Hurricane Barrier!"

A long-haired figure, dressed in a longish purple jacket, and tight-fitted black trousers cast his arm upwards, mirroring the spike of air that thrust itself into the sky, covering both him, and the emerald bird that he rode on.

"Hurricane Barrier raises Skyress' power level by 100G, and-"

The winged sphinx creature - Manion - opposing them seemed unimpressed, and launched itself at its foe, human-like fingers curled into claws.

It never got close enough to use them. The cone of wind caught Manion easily, and jerked it away roughly. The person riding at its shoulder was thrown clear, and hit the ground. Hard.

He did not move again.

"And negates the attack of those with the Subterra attribute."

-—–—–—-

Shun had just killed a man. Another man. He really wasn't all too sure why he continued to do it, or, indeed, why he was in such a place, where his hand was forced.

His memories of the events following up his acquisition of Skyress were fuzzy. And no amount of concentrating on said memory seemed to be able to clear this up for him. So, he stayed, killing people in fear of being killed himself.

Still, this was not something he was sure his wits could stand for that long: Increasingly, he was beginning to enjoy his battles, instead of simply feeling disgusted at himself. Desensitisation, was this?

In an effort to distract himself from his thoughts, if even for a moment, Shun took a swift look at the two guards that had collected him from the arena, and now, escorted him to his room.

They with their unnatural hair colours - Just too bright for something that naturally occurred from a human head, and eyes with no pupils: Just flat, shifting discs of iris. They were certainly the most flamboyant people he'd seem in a long time.

Shun was thrust through a door by them, soon enough. The door slid shut with a soft click, and he was, again, alone. Skyress was there, of course, but she was not human. There was only a certain amount of comfort Shun could glean from a creature that appeared as a toy half the time.

Not that he wanted... No, needed any comfort. He'd be okay just on his own strength of will. He'd always been alright before. Even without a mother. Even with his Grandfather's oppressive care regime. He'd always been alright.

Shun shook his head, alighting on his bed - A plain, sturdy thing, like everything else in his room. A nice room, by anyone's measure: The walls were painted a pleasant shade of minty green (whether this was to reflect his favoured Attribute or not, he didn't know), and a small television set sat on an equally small table beside his bed. On the opposite wall, there was a door, leading to a small, utilitarian bathroom.

But for all these mod-cons, there was not a single window: A hissing strip-light illuminated the room with a sterile glare. Shun had no doubt that it was a cell, even under all the façade.

He lay back, throwing his hands back, and, indeed, throwing Skyress, who had, up till then, been on his shoulder, clear. She didn't grumble, though, and instead, sat patiently.

Perhaps she expected conversation from Shun?

She'd be waiting a long while. He contemplated his next move: When he had understood what his purpose was in this place, he's told himself, and if said purpose was not agreeable to him, he'd work on a plan to get out.

He'd been there weeks... Months... There were no clocks. He could have been there for any length of time, and anywhere in the world.

From what he'd seen from the arena, the place it stood was a wasteland: Could they be in the middle of a desert? Somewhere in Africa or Asia? Australia, perhaps...? Egypt? The more Shun thought about it, the more he realised he could be just about anywhere.

-—–—–—-

Runo was beginning to get that feeling, too.

Still, she didn't exactly have time to fuss over that: The 'outside' was beckoning, with screams and shrieks from the crowd, and the harsh buzz of the sound system being switched on.

A fight, she had been told. A Bakugan battle.

Well, that couldn't be too bad: She had her partner, Tigrerra, and though she had no real recollection of coming here (although she must have come sometime around finding Tigrerra: Memories, if that is what they were, from after that time were blurry and incomplete), she was fairly certain fighting her way out would be possible: It had been her strategy up till then, hadn't it?

The two guards (that's what they seemed to be to Runo, in any case) thrust her into the space 'outside', and the opening slid shut behind her, separating her from safety with six or seven thick plates of metal.

"Ladiiies and Gentlemeeen!" the announcer's voice buzzed and cracked through the speakers, "Welcome again to the most spectacular, the most fantastical, the most exciting BBA match yet!"

Runo had no idea what 'BBA' stood for, but apparently, this was some kind of organised thing. Wonder why they'd been locked in? It wasn't as if battles were exactly dangerous...

"Ready...?" The crowd screamed louder. Louder than Runo thought humanly possible, "Fight!"

The nice man had told them, and Runo wasn't complaining: She selected a suitable gate card, and threw it, along with her opponent (a red-haired female, in a scruffy pair of blue jeans and a off-white shirt).

"Gate card! Set!"

It was odd, Runo thought, that though her gate card had expanded, and lay as if one with the sandy ground, her opponent's card had flashed once, red, and disappeared into the ground... The only card she'd seen do that before was... Well, the Doom Card...

Still, she couldn't let something as trivial as that slow her down: So what if her opponent was up to no good? She'd beat 'em into the dirt.

"Bakugan, brawl!"

Tigrerra flew from Runo's hand, hitting her gate card with a satisfying thump.

"Tigrerra! Stand!"

The little marble-like structure on the ground snapped open, becoming an effigy of a tiger. But not for long: Tigrerra glowed with a golden light, and soon was standing as her nature intended; towering over the battlefield, and parting her fangs in a defiant roar.

Soon, she was met with her foe.

The Griffon, red, with a wolfish face, a scaly, equine set of rear legs, and a serpentine, biting tail, was thrown outside of Runo's gate card - A complication, certainly, but nothing game-changing. Tigrerra was sensible, she could certainly bait the Griffon in.

Apparently with this in mind, Tigrerra braced herself, expecting a heavy assault, straight off the bat. Her power level may have been at 340G, but the Griffon's was at 380!

She was greatly surprised then, when the Griffon's first port of call was not her, but it's mistress! Indeed, only when she was sitting securely on its neck, holding on by its mane, did it pay any attention to Tigrerra.

It did not, however attack.

The girl riding it certainly had a voice, though: "What're you waiting for? Get on your tiger!"

"...What...? Why?"

The red-headed female seemed annoyed, putting a hand to her face. Perhaps she was thinking how much she hated newbies, or perhaps she was simply annoyed that Runo was questioning her.

"That's just how we do things here, girlie!"

"Uh... Okay."

With her strange request fulfilled, the female had no problem with hanging on, and her Griffon took to the skies with a howl.

It was surprisingly difficult to cling on to Tigrerra when the Griffon was attacking from almost all sides: Above, below, behind... The Pyrus monster had no trouble darting in with claws and fangs, taking chunks from Tigrerra until her white fur began to run pink. And the tiger had no real defence: In trying to protect Runo, she had very little chance to protect herself.

"Gate card, open!" It was now or never: If she didn't act, the griffon-rider would, "Blinding Light! Haos Bakugan have their power level raised by 100G's!"

The gate card, true to its name, actually flashed, and the Griffon recoiled, both it and it's mistress crying out. Tigrerra darted in with her claws extended, and swiped at the creature's red belly. Her claws, retracting back into her paws after her slash, seemed to take on the same pigment as the Griffon's fur.

What? Blood? How did-? Why-? What sort of place was this? And Griffon, though it had backed off, and was growing, hurt, at Tigrerra, was still on the field? Surely it should have gone back to ball-form after an attack by a powered-up Tigrerra?

Speaking of power, when Runo checked her Bakupod, she saw, strangely, that though Griffon had not gone away, it's power level had dropped down to 250G. More disturbingly, though Tigrerra's power level should have been at 440, it was actually only 360G.

Was it...? Was it perhaps the wounds that both Tigrerra and Griffon had sustained? Certainly, that would make sense, but Runo had no prior experience, or even knowledge of this happening to anybody else.

At that moment, Runo really wanted nothing more than to run and hide from this: Though she had a temper, she was not exactly a violent person by nature, and this was asking her to inflict suffering and pain on an innocent Bakugan in order to win.

Well, perhaps not totally innocent: The was the red-haired female acted, she'd done this before, so... Did that mean it was okay to hurt her and her Griffon? Runo saw no other way out of the situation, other than to lose, so she clung onto that thought.

That made it a little easier.

"Ability activate! Hellfire!" It seemed that Runo's opponent was not going to take losing laying down. "When Hellfire is activated, 50G is transferred between our Bakugan!"

"Tigrerra power level to 310G's. Griffon power level to 300G's" Ah, the mechanical voice of the Bakupod. How helpful she was.

Runk frowned. Even with such an ability, the Griffon was still 10G's under Tigrerra: It couldn't hope to win! This was illustrated with a snarl from Tigrerra, who deflected a stream of flames from Griffon with a claw-strike.

The red-haired female had a smirk on her face, twisting her features into an aggressive parody of happiness. "Gate card, open! Hot Updraft!"

The ground glowed red, and burst open in patches with scalding columns of steam. Tigrerra, forced into moving from her spot, narrowly avoided being struck several times, although a few bursts scored hot blows onto her sides. As this happened, Runo checked the Bakupod amid each pained snarl. 310, 300, 290, 280... Her power was slowly being whittled away, and Griffon hadn't even bothered to strike yet.

So, this was the power of the female's strange, field-covering gate card: It was inescapable, and yet, seemed to do just about the same, if not slightly less, as any ordinary gate card...

"Runo!" For the first time Tigrerra spoke - She sounded weak, although there was a certain strength to her voice - Did she really believe that Runo could save them? Under this onslaught?

She could but try. Fighting back tears - Pain and heat and pure grief drove them, she threw down a gate card. It set as usual, expanding to a decent size, and appearing to be one with the dust.

"Make for the card, Tigrerra - I've got it sorted!" Runo thought she sounded admirably normal - There was even a slight arrogance to it, as usual. That was good: She couldn't let the red-haired female, or the raging, frenzied crowd see her feeling as defeated and hopeless as she felt.

The moment Tigrerra's paw touched down on the card, it threw up a square halo of light, activating, as if by touch.

"Tears of Angels! Tigrerra's power level is reset!"

"Tigrerra power level at 340G's"

This news came as a plume of flame came from Griffon, obviously hoping to finish her off before the power reset occurred. Too late! Though the fire singed her fur, it did nothing much more than shave 5G's off the tiger.

"Now, ability activate! Tiger Claw!"

Tigrerra knew very well what that did, and began a quick gallop towards the hovering Griffon.

"Tigrerra power level up by 200G's: Tigrerra power level at 535G's!"

The Griffon moved, but nowhere near fast enough - Tigrerra's elongated claws sliced through its neck, chest, belly, and even flayed its tail.

"Griffon power level dropped to 0G's."

Runo needed no Bakupod for that: twisted and savaged, Griffon lay motionless on the ravaged ground, and Tigrerra was no longer a white tiger.

Runo was no longer a 'white' girl, either. Both of them were stained, indelibly red.

-—–—–—-


	2. Chapter 2

Tigrerra, sat on Runo's tv-table, made a 'hrmm' noise. Runo had been in the bathroom for quite a while. She'd heard sobbing issuing through the door, as well as sounds of the less pleasant nature.

Her brawler eventually emerged, looking shaky, sick and pale. There were no words exchanged between the two, as Runo staggered across the small, yellow-painted room, and collapsed on the bed, as if she had suddenly found her legs insufficient props for the disgust and horror that had settled in her stomach like lead weights.

"M'lady...?" There had not been much conversation between the brawler and her Bakugan after the horrific fight. Both of them were unsure if they'd done the right thing. Then again, what else were they supposed to do? It wasn't as if the red-headed female wasn't intending to do them in, if they didn't get her first...

Still, it didn't feel right, to take a life: Perhaps two. Runo was fairly sure that the red-head's fall would have been broken by the corpse of her Bakugan, but there was a nagging doubt in the back of her mind, which asked "What if? What if?"

She wasn't sure if she could handle that happening again.

Spurred on with some feverish rage, Runo ran to her door, and pounded on it with all the strength her body could muster.

"Let us ouuuuuut! Ouuuuuut!" She paused a moment, perhaps surprised by the tears that ran hotly down her face, "You can't keep me in heeeeere!"

Her raving continued on in this fashion for a long while. Minutes, hours? Tigrerra couldn't tell, but she found every moment excruciating however long it was.

"M'lady. I think you should come sit down. Talk quietly about this," The floor seemed a long way off to the tiny tiger. That said, the misery of her mistress was far more distressing than any height, so she jumped, and skittered across the floor, coming to rest at Runo's leg, who lay, collapsed, against the door she had been banging on.

"We'll think of something, don't worry."

The hands came down, quick enough, and lifted Tigrerra to nestle in the crook of Runo's neck, "I'm-" She sniffed, and roughly slapped a wayward tear from her face, "I'm just scared, I guess. I'm glad you're here with me, Tigrerra,"

"I wouldn't be anywhere else, M'lady."

-—–—–—-

"Oh, Gorem! Where on earth do you think we could be?" Julie's voice sounded pretty chipper, considering her situation, "I mean, there's no windows and all the walls are painted that icky brown colour!"

"I think, Julie, we should be more concerned with things other than the colour of the walls." Ever the voice of reason, Gorem spoke calmly from Julie's front pocket, as the girl paced around the room. Personally, he wasn't sure what was wrong with brown, although he wasn't going to bring that up: Last time he had, he'd narrowly avoided being painted pink...

"Yes, but I can't let myself get so worked up about that sort of thing," Julie babbled, looking, for all the world, as if she were worked up, "Bad for the complexion, don't you know?"

Well, no. Gorem didn't know that. To be honest, he wasn't really sure if he cared. Not that Julie needed to know that: Her verbal diarrhea seemed to become prevalent when she was stressed, and in this situation? No wonder the poor girl was so stressed: Plucked from her home, just as they'd started to get to know each other, and dumped who knows where.

They hadn't been outside at all just yet, but there was something oddly familiar, but yet totally foreign about the atmosphere of the place...

-—–—–—-

"Runooooo! RUUUNNNOOOO!"

"Daniel! Daniel! Stop this!" Drago fluttered around his brawler's head, agitated and getting impatient with the lack of response he was getting, "Stop! She clearly can't hear you!"

Despite Drago's attempts to get him to stop, Dan seemed intent of banging the door until he mashed his hands into a bloody pulp. He had heard Runo. Heard her. She was here, in this strange, awful place. She had been shouting, just a little while ago. If he could hear her, surely she could here him?

"Runooooo!"

"...Dan...?" The reply was faint, as if it were quite a way away. Perhaps the doors were merely thick, and made it sound that way. Perhaps the voice was just some cruel trick of his mind. In any case, the Pyrus brawler clung onto the flimsy strand of what might be hope. After all, he had nothing else to cling to.

"Is that you, Runo?" The question was bellowed - Barely retaining the intonation of a question, "Are you there?!"

"...Of course it's Runo! Who else would it be?" The reply was rather snappish, and Dan could imagine the blue-haired girl with her hands on her hips.

Now, what to do? He could continue to shout to Runo, of course, but it was far more likely that somebody would hear, and try to shut him, or her, up.

That said, apart from the people who brought him his food, and those who escorted him to and from the arena, there didn't seem to be an awful lot of people around...

"Hang on, Runo! I'm gonna get us out!" He shouted without really thinking about it: How was he going to get out? He was no Shun, certainly, and Drago could offer no help...

He turned, and leaned with his back against the bloodied door, and examined his equally bloodied hands. Huh. Everything in this room was the same colour now. Fancy that.

"How do you plan to escape, Daniel?" Drago had perched on Dan's shoulder, since the boy was no longer pummelling the door, "We're stuck in this room, and she's probably in the same situation"

"I don't know..." Dan twisted around, rather suddenly, causing Drago to go spiralling back into the air, "I don't know!"

The frustration was rather evident on the boy's expression: No wonder! He was finally in a situation where he couldn't just power his way through. Not that it would stop him from trying - Dan charged at the door with a wild cry, slamming his shoulder into the sturdy woodwork. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. So, Dan dusted himself off, and tried again. And again. And again.

-—–—–—-

A girl with orange hair, and blank, brown eyes walked down the hallway. She seemed as if sleepwalking - There was a metallic card clutched in her hand, and her hands were held to her chest, but the item may as well have been thin air, for all the attention she paid. She may as well have been walking in a wasteland, for all the attention she paid to her surroundings.

She stopped sharply, her fiery hair thrown forward in the abruptness of the action. She had paused outside a door, from which sounds of violence emanated. She crouched, blindly, and slid her card under the door.

After her task had been completed, Alice smiled, although it was a bland, empty expression, and vanished into a blaze of many hued sparkles.

-—–—–—-

Dan, for the second time that day, was not at all sure of what he should do: Some unknown person had bestowed a great kindness onto him, that was for sure, but he wasn't really sure what it was they'd given him.

The item appeared to be a card - No different from any ability or gate card he'd ever used, apart from in weight: The thing could have been made from lead, for all the weight it carried. In addition, whilst one side was pretty plan, the other depicted the wheel of attributes.

How did this help him? Was this just some cruel joke? He thought, for a moment, of trying to call back his mysterious beneficiary, but found his voice had no power to it. Too much shouting. Too much disappointment.

"I wish this thing could take me to Runo..." He could almost see her, when he closed his eyes - What dreadful things were they doing to her? He could hardly bear the notion that one of his friends might be suffering, without him being able to offer any help.

"Dan?"

And now he could hear her voice. Great. He was hallucinating.

"Dan!"

He opened his eyes when arms embraced him. It was... Runo?

"What're you doing in my... Room?" He had just taken the time to look around: The walls that had been painted red, were now yellow, and the door was on the opposite side of the wall to where it should have been.

"Your room?" Runo disengaged herself from Dan, and placed her hands on her hips, in a typical Runo pose, "Take a good look, Dan - You appeared in MY room!"

"Your... Appeared...?" Dan sat, suddenly feeling rather dazed. What had just happened? Had he teleported? It would certainly seem so, but that was impossible, wasn't it? Then again, so were fire dragons and giant tigers...

Speaking of fire dragons, where was Drago? If he had teleported, why hadn't he?

Before he could think on this further, however, Runo's door swung open, slamming into wall that held it. A rather angry man stood there, with purple-black hair that dangled over his eyes, and what appeared to be a kind of bullet-proof vest.

"What're you doing in here? Why aren't you in your room?" The man didn't seem particularly interested in answers, however, and dragged Dan bodily out of the room.

After her door slammed shut, Runo heard shouting and what might have been blows, before another door, presumably Dan's, slammed. So, they were practically in the same position as they had been before.

Well, except that Dan had left a small parting gift - Some strange card lay on the floor. The blue-haired girl picked it up, and tucked it into the small bag attached to it, where she kept her Bakugan, gate and ability cards. That might come in handy, sooner or later.

-—–—–—-


	3. Chapter 3

"Change of Attribute! Subterra!" The blue skin of the humanoid chameleon, Preyas, changed colour to brown, in a bloom of hue, beginning from his chest and spreading throughout his body in a wave.

"Take that!" A small blond boy, dressed in a blue and white hoodie, blue shorts, and red glasses crowed, from his perch on Preyas' shoulder, "Now your Subterra Reactor boosts Preyas by 200G's!"

"Preyas power level at 700G's. Robotallion power level at 550G's. Preyas leading with 150G's."

"Now's our chance! Get him, Preyas!"

The chameleon Bakugan needed no second heeding, and charged, fists already drawn back, in anticipation of punching.

Watching from the commentator's box, were three figures: One, the smartly suited commentator, was busy shouting and cheering, and generally ignoring the other two: A bearded, self-important-looking man, along with a younger, slimmer male, with spiked blond hair, a long, white coat, and a blue, glass-looking mask, that disguised his face with the appearance of a pair of warped glasses. He had an arm looped about the bearded man's fat neck, a card in his hand, depicting an image of a dragon's skull, held so hard against the man's throat that it was starting to scratch uncomfortably.

"So, tell me, is your little enterprise going well?" There was venom in the masked man's voice. A promise that bad things awaited people who displeased him.

"Uh... It's progressing... Fairly, I suppose... But..." The bearded man got the impression he was being glared at, although he had no idea if his impression was correct.

"... But?"

The commentator, still shouting away, took a sideways glance at the pair. He wasn't getting good vibes from the other people in his box - Indeed, to all intents and purposes, it seemed rather like a hostage situation.

"The Bakugan Brawler's Resistance has been spotted in areas near here. It won't be long until they find us."

All he got in reply from the blond was a snort of derision. "Well, that's your problem, isn't it?" At that, he vanished, leaving behind no trace that he'd ever been there, but multi-hued sparks, and the ominous doom card, sneering up at the bearded man. A little gift. A reminder that he was never really alone. And, of course, a replacement for the current one in the system, to provide the audience with the violence to which they had become accustomed.

On the battlefield, struggling with the power-boosted Robotallion, Marucho was oblivious to the exchange that had taken place. He was really more concerned with making his opponent give up, before one of them got killed.

"Ability activate!" Marucho held a card in his hand, and Preyas dropped his hold of the robot Bakugan's fists, darting to one side as he did so, "Blue Stealth!"

With a grin, Preyas vanished from view, and the Robotallion, and it's master, who sat perched upon its earthy-hued shoulder, was left casting its gaze around, unsure what had just occurred.

But not for long!

Preyas' webbed foot soon reappeared - Slammed, hard, into the back of Robotallion's neck. The brown robot stumbled, barely catching its master in time. The boy in its hands was just seconds away from flat, crunchy death.

"Please, give up!" Marucho had decided that trying to get opponents to give up was a good plan: His first battle here hadn't gone so well, and he'd... Well, to put it bluntly, he'd killed a person. He'd been awfully sick that night - Even then, the mere thought made him queasy. Still, getting three out of five of his opponents to quit wasn't half bad, if he did say so himself.

Unfortunately, this person was proving to be quite tenacious: They responded with: "Ability activate! Chest Cannon!"

"Robotallion power level increase by 100G's. Preyas power level decrease by 100G's. Robotallion at 750G's. Preyas at 600G's." The voice from Marucho's Bakupod was, as ever, helpful. Not that Marucho could do much about it: Robotallion had Preyas pinned to the wall.

He was about to take a blast at point-blank range!

"Ability Activate! Whirlpool Switch!" All Marucho hoped he could do, at this point, was try to minimise damage. "This transfers 50G's from Robotallion to Preyas."

"Preyas at 650G's. Robotallion at 700G's."

Not enough. But as close as he could get, for the moment.

The flash of light and blast of heat between the two Bakugan was intense: Marucho clung to Preyas, feeling as if he were being scalded and blinded and burned to a crisp, all simultaneously.

He still got off better than Preyas, though: The chameleon Bakugan staggered when Robotallion let go of him (it had sustained injuries too: That's what you get for letting off energy cannons so close!), and slumped down against the arena wall.

There were bloodthirsty cries from the audience: They wanted to see Preyas smeared all over the arena, clearly.

"That guy..." Preyas gave a half-hearted grin to Marucho, who looked rather as if he might cry, "He's got a hot temper."

"Gate card! Set!"

A large card-shaped area appeared next to Preyas, courtesy of his brawler: There might have been little use in abilities at that moment, but that wasn't to say gate cards were of no use!

It was simply a matter of getting Preyas onto it...

-—–—–—-

"So what do you think, Skyress?"

The little green bird turned in Shun's palm, thinking for a moment. "I don't like it, but... If you think it's our best shot..."

Shun nodded, solemnly, "I do,"

"Then I'll give it a shot."

They sat in silence for a long while. Perhaps they were contemplating their situation. Perhaps their actions. In any case, there was no sound in the room for a long, long while.

The door, usually locked, creaked open. Much quieter a sound than the previous slamming, but it still managed to make Skyress and Shun jump. It was simply the guard who came with the food, however. The man set it on the floor, apparently not wanting to actually enter the room, before the door shut again, and the clicking of locks, and the rattle of chains was heard.

They ate, Shun periodically feeding Skyress small portions of the mushy grain that they were fed, mixed in as it was with vegetables Shun did not recognise, and something that may have been some kind of meat. When they were done, Shun propped the paper napkin they were given on the plate and tucked Skyress underneath.

"Do you remember the plan?"

"Yes, Shun."

Shun gave her a quick smile, before the guard, like clockwork, returned, the allotted time for eating having ended. The man picked up the tray, and Skyress along with it. And then, they were gone.

Shun just hoped Skyress would return before he got called out to fight again: Ravenoid and Monarus would only get him so far...

-—–—–—-

Preyas had reached the gate card, sure enough, although not under his own power: Robotallion had kicked and punched him, until he had fallen there. Marucho couldn't really complain, though: His Bakugan may have been beaten to an inch of his life (and with only 100G's remaining, too!), but he could carry out his plan, and that was the important thing.

"Gate card, open!" Marucho's voice was strained: No wonder, Robotallion continued to beat Preyas, "Quicksand Freeze! The Bakugan with the higher power level is caught!"

Just as Marucho had said, the brown robot was sinking, slowly, slowly, until it was up to its waist.

"Now, Ability Activate! Aqua Drops!"

"Preyas power level increase by 250G's. Preyas power level at 300G's." The male who stood on Robotallion sneered at this: Nowhere near Robotallion's 700G's!

Marucho was not fazed by this, however: With the power added to Preyas, the chameleon was able to stand, and, indeed, move off of the gate card, leaving Robotallion to continue fruitlessly pounding at the ground.

"Gate card, set!" The crowd seemed rather annoyed by this lack of violence and surplus of gate card hopping: some of them began to boo, and attempt to spit at Marucho and Preyas, although, since they had no hope of reaching them, the saliva simply hit people a few rows in front. "Gate card, open! Water Clone!"

Twin water spouts erupted either side of Preyas, and from them emerged a Bakugan that looked much like a blue horseshoe crab - Limulus, and from the other, a saurian tortoise, Juggernoid, of the same colour.

Now Marucho had all his pieces in place - By the effect of the gate card, neither a Limulus nor Juggernoid could attack, but that did not matter - He was loathe to use his next ability card, however. It was sure to mean Robotallion and his master did not survive...

"Please, surrender!" A final plea: Soon, the Quicksand Freeze would fade, and he'd be in the exact same position as he had been before he'd played it, only with two more spectators. The male with the robot Bakugan, however, as resolute. He would not surrender to a mere child!

"Then... Ability card, activate! Tidal Wave!"

A gigantic wave appeared, just in front of the three Aquos Bakugan, all of whom had struck the ground, as Marucho had declared his card. The Robotallion had only just struggled out of the ground, as the card holding him there had faded, moments before.

Too late!

The giant wave came crashing down on its head, and, when the arena had eventually drained, only pieces of Robotallion remained, scattered here and there. The man riding it was nowhere to be seen.

Marucho had own, once more, but he was beginning to feel that winning wasn't quite everything, anymore...

-—–—–—-

As one door closes, another one opens.

The same seemed to be true for Julie: Although her entrance and Marucho's exit were meticulously planned so that they did not pass each other, Julie had a feeling about the damp battlefield. There was something familiar about it. As quickly as this thought came, she dismissed it. That was not the thing she should be focussing on: She knew that, and yet, the more she wanted to concentrate, the more her mind turned to other things.

Her opponent was a strange one - A short boy with pink hair, and an arrogant smirk on his face. A Ventus brawler, judging by his clothes, and his Bakugan.

Julie drew her hand back, and prepared for a throw - Not too far - She still needed to get onto Gorem, but not so close to her that he might step on her.

"Ba-!"  
"Julie! Get on!"

Runo had appeared, astride her white tiger Bakugan, with a strange card in her hand, in a burst of light. Nevertheless, Julie hurried to ride pillion.

"How did you get in here?"

To this, Runo merely shook the card in front of her friend's face, before the light from before appeared again, and engulfed them...

...

...

...And deposited them in the middle of a wasteland. Literally the middle of nowhere, really: No houses, no roads, no people, no plants. It was deader than Death Valley.

Well, apart from the two girls, and their Bakugan that had just appeared in it.

"Runo! Where are we!?"


End file.
